Aloha Everyone!

 I have been transferred to....drum roll....Palehua Makakilo! It is on the opposite side of the island from Kaneohe, and I pretty much love it!  It looks nothing like Hawaii except that you can see the water a little ways off. It totally looks like the mainland! I thought I was home again. There are a lot more stores and industrial buildings. And it is really dry and HOT. The palm trees give it away a little. Another cool thing about it is that it is a walking area again! I love it. It is cool because we live with 2 other sisters- one of those being my Trainer, Sister Clayson :)- We share a car with them, so if we need a ride we have one. We also live really close to the church, so that is sweet! And the apartment is not a closet!!! It is so exciting! It looks almost exactly like Millie and Nathan's apartment. I am so happy to have a stove and a refrigerator that are bigger than a shoe box. We even have a couch! That is my first couch on my mission! And we have a deck, so I am a pretty happy camper.

 But here is the craziest thing of all, which I know you are all going to laugh at, but in this area we have a personal trainer!  He is not a member, but he trains all 4 of us at 6 in the morning everyday. He is a boxer, I think, and he has trained his sons. We run up and down the street and then we work out in his garage. Here is the really weird part...I kind of like it!! I know! I know! Sorry Dad for almost giving you a heart attack...I should care more about your aging heart :). But yeah, I have only been once because we don't work out on the weekends, but it was fun. He is really good at not making me feel weak and lame. I have never been so sore, but it was way cool, and everyone says after 6 weeks I'll be in shape, so sweet! He also noticed that I walk on my left foot weird and that I over correct on that side too much. He said it could be a cause of a lot of back pain and stuff, so he said he will help me fix it! It will be nice not to have a sore back.

 My companion is Sister Haws. She came out a transfer after me. She is from Kaysville, Utah and she is a few months younger than me. We have had a lot of fun so far. And she is an AMAZING violinist! You can give her any song and as long as she knows the tune she can play it, and she makes it a different arrangement. I played name that tune with her and she made up new arangements for everything and it was AMAZING! So yeah, that is way fun. I wish I had a cool talent like that.

I really like the people so far. There are a lot more locals. There are a lot of apartment buildings in our area and that is usually where you will find locals. It is cool because we walk around and little kids come running up to us, and it is way fun. Our ward is very missionary minded. The Ward Council always asks us specifically how they can help! I love it! I did cry on my own when I left Kailua. Everyone was really sad and they gave me big hugs. I will always love those people, but I am not really homesick for the area so I am OK here. I can see a lot of things I can help with here, so that will be nice. I also like it because I am actually teaching here. I actually feel like a missionary! I get to tell people about the Book of Mormon before they shut the door in my face-it is marvelous! I really like teaching people. We had a great lesson this week with a lady who is super excited to get baptized, she just needs to work on the Word of Wisdom...and she is totally willing to stop. She even told us that it would be good to stop smoking so she can pay her tithing better! She is so good! I also loved that lesson because I really felt the Spirit.  Stories quotes and scriptures kept popping into my head that made her light up. Almost everything I said she was like, "Wow I never thought of it that way. That makes sense. I needed that!" So that made me feel really good. And we have these two 10 year old girls who want to get baptized, we just need to get mom's approval which is the problem right now. I just love how much I am feeling the Spirit here. 

For Thanksgiving we are going to play in the Turkey Bowl and eat at the church with a few of the families in the ward! I am excited for that. It was cool because yesterday Steven, my marine investigator from Kailua, got baptized! I am so happy for him. I am totally half-way counting him. I was sad I couldn't be there. He is such a good person.

So yeah, that is mostly what happened this week, and I am loving it! I am having so much fun. And what is crazy is that I am going to be 8 months in in a few weeks! Crazy! I tell people that I have been out for almost 8 months and they are like "Wow You are not new at all!" That makes me feel good.

There was something else, I will tell you next week I don't remember

Love you one more than you will ever say

Sister Amy Hoskins